Chapter 5 - The Hospital Boardroom Purge
At precisely four-fifteen in the morning, the heavy glass entrance doors of the St. Jude’s administrative building were blown off their hinges.
My tactical team swarmed the third-floor executive suite with drawn automatic weapons, severing all outgoing telephone lines and security feeds.
Dr. Richard Sterling sat in his lavish corner office, packing confidential clinical files into a leather briefcase while sipping vintage scotch.
When the double mahogany doors crashed open, Sterling jumped up from his desk, knocking his crystal tumbler onto the Persian rug.
“What is the meaning of this armed invasion?” Sterling shrieked, his face turning an ashen shade of grey as four laser sights pinned his chest.
“I am the Chief Medical Administrator of this facility! I will have the Governor deploy the National Guard!”
I strode into the office, my charcoal overcoat flaring as the icy draft from the broken lobby swept through the corridor.
Behind me walked Detective Marcus Vance, my trusted ally in the State Police Financial Crimes Division, carrying a stack of unsealed federal search warrants.
I walked directly to Sterling’s desk, resting my palms on the polished mahogany and looming over the trembling physician like an executioner.
“Sit down, Richard,” I said in a low, terrifying growl that sucked the oxygen from the room.
Sterling collapsed heavily into his high-backed leather chair, his hands shaking so violently he couldn't clasp them together.
“Mr. Vance… please… this must be a misunderstanding regarding your corporate donations!”
I reached across the desk, grabbed the lapels of his tailored suit jacket, and dragged him across the desk until his nose was an inch from mine.
“You took a two-hundred-thousand-dollar wire transfer from Julian Vance’s offshore holding account in the Cayman Islands yesterday morning, Richard.”
Sterling gasped, his eyes widening in pure, unadulterated horror as Detective Marcus tossed the authenticated wire receipts onto his desk.
“You deliberately forged the state subsidy cancellation to deny a seven-year-old boy his life-saving chemotherapy infusions,” I whispered, each word cutting like a scalpel.
“You knew that without those infusions, Leo Vance would die of respiratory collapse before the weekend.”
“Julian told me the boy was an illegitimate child from a street scandal!” Sterling sobbed hysterically, tears streaming down his flabby cheeks.
“He swore the Vance family wanted the matter handled quietly without public embarrassment!”
“That boy is Damian Vance’s legitimate son and the sole surviving heir to my empire,” I growled, slamming Sterling back into his chair.
“And you just signed your own death warrant for thirty pieces of silver.”
Detective Marcus stepped forward, clicking heavy steel handcuffs around Sterling’s wrists with aggressive finality.
“Richard Sterling, you are under arrest for attempted murder of a minor, corporate conspiracy, medical malpractice, and federal wire fraud.”
As the officers dragged the weeping doctor out of his office, I grabbed the encrypted hard drive from his safe and turned to my security captain.
May you like
“Bring Julian Vance to the subterranean holding cells beneath the waterfront docks,” I ordered coldly.
“It is time for a family reunion.”
